Description

Dark cinnamon skin fits her, slightly taller than average, figure. Her face is long and oval, with a soft chin and more defined jaw. Her long, narrow eyes are a deep brown, overseen by thick but arched eyebrows. For her face, her nose is a little short, with a round tip that gives her a bit of a youthful look no matter her age. She has thick, pink lips around a smaller mouth. Her hair, parted on one side, falls in dark brown tangles, high off her forehead, and down below her shoulders — once sweet curls, she's recently let her hair care go and the natural ringlets have thickened, with what hair's against the top of her head braided scalp-tight.

A plain cream tunic drapes over her shoulders, sleeveless, with its lengths falling so far down her thighs that it's almost masquerading as an improper dress. Below, however, she has thin, dark, trousers that hug her legs down to ankle boots. A black vest sits over the tunic, giving her double padding on the shoulders and a couple of full pockets weighting it down on the sides. Thin scarfing blossoms at her neck, patterned in blues and whites, while a taste of gold shimmers with the loops in her ears and a round medallion around her neck. It's stamped with an emblem, perhaps a family heirloom or important brand.

History

The eldest of Jharlodar's offspring, Bautista and his wife Tlalli despaired when they were seemingly unable to bear a child for turns. Bautista had never been particularly ambitious — a sorry fact for an eldest of a clan — but he longed for family, so it was with much fanfare and surprise that Chel eventually arrived. A weakened Tlalli was told to be careful trying to bear others, effectively killing Bautista's dream of a large, prosperous number of children. Young Chel became a precious flower that would hopefully blossom into a productive mother — something that she wasn't thinking about quite yet.

As a young member of the Tlatoani clan, Chel was well enough off but not lazy, learning the ins and outs of the Bazaar until she could begin waitressing at her grandfather's Cantina when she was fourteen. Jharlodar was a laid-back man as long as things were being done right and they got along fine. This lent itself to Chel's growing ambition. Even young, she expressed interest in what she believed would be her inheritance: the Dustbowl itself. Though patient enough parents, Bautista and Tlalli knew that eventually they'd have to quash some of this outlandishness in their daughter; if she was going to be raising all these children, she wouldn't have time to keep the cantina up to snuff. It also didn't sit well with Bautista's younger brother Ohtldan. Far more ambitious than his brother had ever been, Ohtldan considered his own family line the clear choice to inherit the Dustbowl: he, after all, had a son, Nicadan.

And Nicadan was not about to let his father down. Especially against a girl.

Rivalries have sprung up between the two children, with Chel's argument always being that Nicadan spends all his time flouncing around the Bazaar with his friends; he never spends any getting to know how the Dustbowl works. She's found further inspiration in the arrival of the Oldtimers, though she tends to stay away from Weyr business, like the rest of the clan.